Israel/Palestine special

As Israelis celebrate the creation of Israel, Palestinians mark what they call 'al-Naqba'

On 14 May, 1948, shortly after World War II and the death of around 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, Israel declared itself an independent state.

This week Israelis took to the streets to celebrate the country's 60th anniversary. Meanwhile, Palestinians in the West Bank held solemn marches. For them the date represents al-Naqba, or "the Catastrophe".

The establishment of Israel was a key event in the history of the Middle East - it began one of the world's most protracted conflicts and has shaped the region's political climate ever since.

Sir David Frost looks back at the events of 1948 and the beginning of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He talks to some of the key players in the region - Middle East envoy Tony Blair, Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, and Salam Fayyad, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority.

Sir David also hosts a debate between the Palestinian scholar and political activist Hanan Ashrawi, the Israeli politician and lawyer Isaac Herzog, and Al Jazeera's political analyst, Marwan Bishara.

The prime minister of the Palestinian Authority callsfor a renewed effort to end the conflict

Salam Fayyad was sworn in as prime minister of the Palestinian Authority in June 2007.

He worked for the World Bank and more recently as the International Monetary Fund's representative to Palestine.

Between 2002 and 2005, Fayyad served as the finance minister under the Fatah-controlled administration. He was praised by many for introducing economic reform.

Fayyad says that Israeli settlement expansion is eroding the credibility of the political process. He expresses his hope that a Palestinian state will be established within the 1967 borders and calls for a renewed effort to bringing the conflict to an end.